He had warned his rivals that they would regret making him angry during the
previous day’s races. And Ben Ainslie was as good as his word.

Ben Ainslie has a fourth Olympic gold medal in his sights after his tactical sailing apparently forced his Danish rival Jonas Hogh-Christensen into third place in the 10th Finn class race.Photo: EPA/OLIVIER HOSLET

Britain’s most successful Olympic sailor hauled himself back into contention to win his fourth gold medal in a row with a masterful display of tactical sailing that sets up a thrilling showdown against his Danish rival tomorrow .

He warned his two main challengers before yesterday’s races that they had made a “big mistake” by claiming that he hit a marker buoy in a previous heat, adding: “They’ve made me angry and you don’t want to make me angry.”

Taking to the waters of Weymouth Bay, he put his words into action as he won the 10th race of the Finn class competition, and apparently forced Denmark’s Jonas Hogh-Christensen into third place with aggressive sailing that affected his rival’s performance.

Macclesfield-born Ainslie, 35, will win his fourth consecutive gold tomorrow as long as he can finish in front of Hogh-Christensen, 31, and no lower than seventh.

Fans can look forward to the mouth-watering prospect of seeing the sailors, nicknamed “Big Ben” and the “Great Dane”, fight their final race every inch of the way.

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The Dane dominated the Finn category in the early part of the week, beating Ainslie six times in a row to establish a 10-point lead over him. However, the Briton is now just two points behind Hogh-Christensen and points from tomorrow’s medal race count double.

In yesterday’s 10th race Ainslie delivered a masterclass in match racing, where yachtsmen go head-to-head and employ tactics such as trying to affect the other’s wind in order to slow them down. After a strong start, he built a lead of 150 yards over Hogh-Christensen, with Dutchman Pieter-Jan Postma in third place.

Had the Dane remained in second, the Briton would have needed to finish two places in front of him in the final in order to win the gold medal that would make him the most successful sailor in Olympic history.

Ainslie therefore slowed down and attempted to position his boat upwind of Hogh-Christensen to give him “dirty air”.

Commentators suggested that the Briton was probably too far ahead to have any effect, but the move appeared to have a psychological impact, and Postma, 30, sailed into second place.

Hogh-Christensen admitted later that he got “a little bit distracted” by Ainslie.

The Briton said: “I had a pretty sizeable lead and it was really important for me that the Dutch sailor was able to get past Jonas.”

He considered going back to scupper the Dane’s sailing but decided against it. “In reality it was too risky as, if something had gone wrong and I’d lost those boats, I’d look pretty silly,” he said.

If Ainslie wins gold tomorrow, he will equal the achievement of Paul Elvstrom, the Dane who won four successive Olympic gold medals from 1948 to 1960, but he also has a silver medal from the 1996 Games in Atlanta.

Hogh-Christensen had said it might be nice to prevent the British sailor eclipsing his countryman. There is no love lost between the two men after Ainslie claimed that Hogh-Christensen and Postma “teamed up” against him to accuse him of hitting a marker on Thursday, forcing him to take a penalty.

The Dane responded: “Nobody gangs up on nobody, and if he thinks that, he is the bad sportsman.”